Welcome to the Social Media Round Up September 2017. My month has been very much of two halves, one of loss and gain. The great thing about working for yourself is you get to work the hours you want, the down side is that somethings come to an end (Social Media Management) and its not always something you are ready for! This was very much a door closed and opened window event though thankfully. I have managed to find a patio door actually, this was all very timely actually. Saying that though, it's difficult to turn down any opportunity when you work for yourself. This is when time management very much comes into an element of its own!
Anyway, enough chat from me, let me bring you up to speed with a few of the new things that have cropped up over the past month and do please share and give me your thoughts. Thanks!
I am very much of the opinion that Facebook Ads (if its a platform you use) is the way to go. It delivers your content to the right people and normally at the right time too. Well Charlie Lawrence of Social Media Examiner has written an article this past month that shows you "How to Use Facebook Video Ads to Move People Through Your Sales Funnel". This is easily the way to go in the future. Mark Zuckerberg has said as much. In the next 5 years he envisions almost every post being a video, so these are skills we need to hone sooner rather than later.
I advocate Facebook Live for your business as well as Facebook Ads. It's a free and compelling way to reach your audience and create a relationship with them. However, to create the best impression for some businesses it might be nice to get a few things in place before and during your "broadcasts" that will make the experience nicer for you and your audience. Ian Anderson Gray recently wrote a blog post for Social Media Examiner where he details what you need to make the most out of "live" event. Have a read of his post here: Facebook Live Tools: An Essential Checklist for Creators.
With Ireland being such an entrepreneurial country, every year there are more and more businesses starting up. However, each new business will only have a small budget to promote themselves at the beginning. It's important to generate as wide an audience as possible when you first start so you need to create content that appeals "organically". With this in mind Ian Cleary of Razorsocial wrote this post in June, which I am sure you will find very useful! How to Find Facebook Post Ideas for Higher Organic Reach.
More and more people are now using Instagram for their marketing and making sure you are optimizing it is paramount to making the best first impression. Danny Wood put up this article earlier on this year on Strutta and is well worth the share. Instagram Marketing - Optimize Your Instagram Profile. He goes step by step through the profile explaining what needs to be edited and why. Great little find.
I like to intersperse the odd bit of website info alongside my social media links as let's face it - most people have use of both for their business. No one wakes up and knows all you need to know, which is I why I like to share content that I have found useful.I have made a lot of the the mistakes in this post myself why I started up my website. I accept I did and understand "rookie" mistakes which is why it's so important to continue educating yourself. How to Avoid 6 Common Web Design Mistakes that Hurt SEO from Search Engine Journal.
Carrying on the ole SEO theme is this blog post from Hootsuite. The only criticism I have for Hootsuite is their posts are always soooooooo long. Maybe I should get into the habit of reading them in their entirety, but for the purpose of this blog post I have! This post in fairness is one of their shorter ones so do plunge in and see the tasty nuggets of info.
These days the best tools are the ones that you pay for. When you pay, you get regular updates and tweaks that protect the product and your investment. Have a read and a look at the suggested tools - even the daft named ones. You might find just you were looking for. 8 SEO Tools Social Marketers Should be Using.
If you would like some help with your social media or think your content could be included in this blog, then please contact melanie@stomp.ie and let me know.Have a fabulous month!
Working with clients Nationwide from base in Mullingar.
